Mandela Day: Re-Watch The Amazing Moment Nelson Mandela Gave His Famous Cape Town Speech
July 18 is Nelson Mandela Day, and in honor of the anti-apartheid activist and first black president of South Africa, we're reliving a famous speech he gave in Cape Town in 1990 after his release from prison.
Mandela turns 95 years old on Thursday.
The video is embedded below:
Mandela has been in the news lately for his declining health, but his family says his condition is dramatically improving.
Celebrations and tributes are planned in South Africa for Mandela's birthday. Many people will spend 67 minutes doing community service to acknowledge the 67 years he served South Africa.
Here are some of Mandela's most inspiring quotes, per his page on biography.com:
Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow fear to stand in our way.
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. ... The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one's commitment.
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.
Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.
Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
People outside South Africa can celebrate Mandela Day by serving their communities or supporting a charity. The event's website says it is meant as a call to action "to take responsibility for changing the world into a better place, one small step at a time, just as Mr. Mandela did."